Wallaroo to Phillip Island

Wallaroo

This morning we’ll be meeting Flash who will take us fishing on his boat. Our host Mark drops us off at the jetty at 07:00 just as the boat is being put in the water. Esky’s filled with ice are loaded and the boat positively bristles with rods. It all looks very promising to us.
After a ride of about 30 minutes we’re fishing for squid. But the squid have other ideas and don’t want to be caught by us. We only catch a few and decide to up stakes and try somewhere else.
At this new spot, closer to shore we try again. This time we’re not only going for squid. We’re also trying to catch Garfish and Blue crab. In the process we’ll probably also get some Johnny Rough (Australian Herring). Again we start off slow, but then we start to reel fish in at a steady rate. The crab net is also doing quite nicely and after a morning of fishing the grand total is: 4 squid, 8 Johnny Rough, 12 Garfish and 15 Blue crab. This will be a good feed tonight!
The rest of the day is spent scaling and cleaning fish, turning squid into calamari and cooking crab (don’t ask). It doesn’t take long for us to realize that we have way too much food for four people and we decide to save the crab for a different day. Never the less, we have a big dinner and we still can’t finish all the fish and salads.
After a good night and quiet morning we’re off for Adelaide where we will visit an Indian festival. After a two hour ride we arrive at the park and are a bit disappointed by the scale of the festival. It’s rather small, but not to worry, the food is great! After having enjoyed the snacks and music, we wander into the city. Adelaide has quite a nice and different atmosphere. It feels like a mix of Southern European, San Francisco and New Orleans covered with an Aussie sauce. Good fun!
Later that day we see a few groups of people dressed up like zombies walking around. They all seem to be converging on a large field and we can only guess there is some kind of party going on. Boy, were we ever right, except the party is somewhere else and the field is merely the starting point. All of a sudden the terrace we are seated at is swamped by hundreds of living dead! Another interesting experience…
Our third day in Wallaroo is a quiet one. We have nothing scheduled and the day is spent by walking, blogging, watching the Bathurst 1000 and… cleaning crab. Miek and Lynn spend a few hours getting the meat out of the shells and turning it into a wonderful curry. Then the crab remnants are returned to the sea and the ladies go for a swim, in spite of the temperature (16) and rain. We’re going for dinner with Mark and Lynn to the house of friends of theirs: Neil and Sue. The curry is well received and Sue has cooked up a storm for all of us. It turns into a fun evening for all and Huub even get’s to ride Neil’s baby: a classic Ducati 900 SS (all original…).

Dag 28, Wallaroo to Robe: Storms!

We’re off again and so is the weather. It was nice enough during our stay, but now the sky is filled with cloud, rain and wind, lots of wind.
We ride to Lynn’s store to see if we can find some waterproof boots. Unfortunately she doesn’t have anything suitable in Miek’s size. Huub is lucky and finds a pair of boots. They are one size too big but warm and waterproof.
Mark and Lynn see us off and we head for Adelaide. The first stretch isn’t too bad, the wind being mostly at our backs and the showers mostly in the distance. But after Adelaide conditions get slowly worse. We fuel in Tailem Bend and turn onto the coastal road. Less than 10 Km down that road we stop to put on our rain trousers and to let a big black storm pass us. By varying our speed between 70 and 120 Km/h we are able to avoid the worst of the rain. But there is no way to avoid the wind and by the time we reach Robe we are dead tired and stone cold.

Day 29, Robe to Port Campbell: More storms…

After the tough ride to Robe, Miek opts for a restday. A wise call as the weather continuous to be atrocious. But today we have to get a move on. Not that the weather has changed, it’s just as bad as the previous days. Annemiek has donned plastic bags on her feet to keep them dry and off we go.
In spite of the bad conditions, the ride is actually quite nice. We leave the coast and enter the forests and meadows of South Australia and Victoria. Huub even spots a sleeping Koala high up in a tree.
As we ride on, we keep meeting more and more bikers, all heading the same way: East to Phillip Island. The route we’re taking is very popular with “bikies”: The great ocean road. Famous and infamous for it’s views, mountains and the many tight curves. Today we only ride a very tiny bit of it, tomorrow the rest.
In Port Campbell we quickly check into our cabin to get warm and dry. Then we go for a short walk and can’t help but notice that most of the town has been taken over by bikers and their machines. The familiar GP tingles are definitely setting in and after a good meal we crawl deep under the nice comfy blankets.

Day 30, Port Campbell to Williamstown: Rain and curves.

The next morning we are awakened by a hellatious shower beating down on the roof of our cabin. The noise is deafening and doesn’t really motivate us to get out of bed. After about an hour the sky breaks a bit and we start to mount our gear on the bikes. By the time we’re done it’s starting to rain again…
We decide to shove off in spite of the rain, Miek again with her plastic bags in her boots. This time she’s also wearing two pairs of socks…
We leave town as part of a convoy of bikers. Everywhere you look we see bikes, bikers, sidecars, the lot. Everybody heading to Phillip Island and, hopefully, better weather. We figure out that the average Aussie bikie is not used to the combo of rain and a twisty road. We travel at speeds that really have us worried, worried that we will fall over. On the other hand, it’s good that riders are respecting their personal limits and are not trying to show off skills they do not posses. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule as we find out when we get some clear road ahead of us. A lone rider on his brand spanking new Suzuki V-Strom decides he needs to keep up with Annemiek, nearly binning his bike several times before he gives up.
We have a nice brunch in Apollo Bay and run into a bunch of riders from Manjimup, WA. They have ridden all the way here in this crappy weather. Hard core!
When we continue it’s more of the same: great road, gorgeous views, the occasional shower and slow riders. Boy, these guys would get the scare of their lives if they ever would ride in the Eiffel or Ardennes in these conditions. We decide to take it easy and not scare any of the locals. Miek is starting to consider herself quite the rider and adopts the nickname Stáh… (That’s star for those of you who haven’t heard Aussies speak yet.)
After a long and rather wet ride we arrive in Williamstown, a suburb of Melbourne. We park our bikes in Rob’s workshop; he runs a truck repair business. We met Rob on the Gibb where he was one of the crewmembers of the Variety Bash Fire engine. We’re staying the night at his place and spend a wonderful evening with him and his wife Sue. It turns into quite a late night, but that’s ok as we only have a very short ride to Phillip Island ahead of us.

Day 31, Williamstown to Phillip Island: To the racetrack!

The forecasts are quite good but obviously somebody forgot to inform the weather… It’s showers galore as we ride out and across the highlight of the day: the huge bridge across the river to the city. It offers magnificent views of the city on one and the bay on the other side. The traffic is pretty hectic and it’s slow going through town.
Fortunately, it gets much better on the other side of town and we cruise leisurely to our destination. But then, just 30 Km short of the Island, Huub is stopped along side the road. His chain has run off the rear sprocket! This chain has been causing problems for a while, showing excessive wear in spite of our daily greasing. In under 2 minutes Huub has the chain back in place and we’re off again. 20 Km down the road the same problem stops us again and after fixing it we limp onto Phillip Island.
The beach house we have rented for the GP weekend is great and we are allowed to check in early. After settling in we call our friends Auke and Catherine, who are on their way from Sydney. We leave the key for them and go meet our contact person with Yamaha Motor Australia: Ray Howard. Ray immediately takes us for a meet and greet with the official Yamaha teams competing in the Supersport and Superbike championships. We talk with Bryan and Jamie and the team owner who gets to manage all this. Bryan rides a R6 in the Supersports and is leading the championship ranking. Jamie competes both in the Supersports and Superbikes, being the reigning Supersport champion and ranked second in the current standings. These guys know what they are talking about…
Afterwards we are taken to the Club Y VIP pavilion. This will be our base for the next three days and we receive a warm welcome. We watch some of the GP free practices and some very close and exciting races for the national championships.
Back at the house we meet up with Auke and Catherine. They have suffered some car trouble on the way but Auke is a magician with cars and got the Landy going again. The four of us pile into the car and head for the Penguin Parade, a local tourist trap. Every night, hundreds of Little Penguins (no joke, that’s what they’re called) leave the ocean to return to their nests. As they are vey vulnerable on the beach, they cross just after sunset in large numbers. What undoubtedly started as a way to protect the dunes and birds, has turned into a “cleanthepockets” money maker. But fair is fair, it is good fun to see the little birds across the beach.
The next few days are spend at the track. We see a lot of good races. Bryan and Jamie maintain their lead in the Supersport rankings, we see Julian Simon (250 cc) and Valentino Rossi (Moto GP) take their respective world championships and see Casey Stoner win the Moto GP in front of his home audience. It turns out to be his birthday to boot. As the Moto GP winner is honoured, we are standing on the fronts straight and sing the Happy Birthday dear Casey with the crowd. (When in Rome…)
Then the great exodus starts and the island is relieved of thousands of bikers. We are staying on a bit, enjoying the sun, sand and sea. We even take some surfing lessons.
But all good things must come to an end and so will our stay here; tomorrow we have to go to Albury and attend another party…